


Cacophony With Feeling

by KodaWickett



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe- 90s era, Drinking, Drug Use, Eventual Smut, Friends to Lovers, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-20 23:55:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17632175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KodaWickett/pseuds/KodaWickett
Summary: Harry Styles shared a joint with Louis Tomlinson in a club toilet stall in 1990.  Two years later their paths cross again when Harry answers a local band’s ad about needing a singer and guitarist.  Everything has been perfect since then until Harry realizes he’s in love with Louis.





	Cacophony With Feeling

**Author's Note:**

> It’s finally here.  
> So my links to the songs mentioned aren’t working right now but not all of them are from the 90s, I decided to take some liberties.  
> I’m a guy that’s obsessed with music so forgive me if I go a little overboard on the references later on.  
> Enjoy!

Chapter One:

October 14th, 1990

“Christ! Styles, that’s your third cigarette since we’ve been here. The line just started to move so if you kill over don’t expect me to give a eulogy.” Harry rolled his eyes at his friends mock concern but put the cigarette back in its carton, raking his hands through his artfully tousled curly locks instead. “I smoke like a short stack when I get nervous, Niall you know that. C’mon let's get moving before all the good seats are taken.” Niall knew that Harry meant; pray to every deity they didn’t believe in that their fake ids wouldn’t be noticed. Harry gave Niall a wolfish grin when the bouncer reluctantly let them in thanks to Niall shamelessly playing the father card, Alan Horan was New York City’s most well known music mogul and everyone knew better than to cross him. The club was packed despite there being a shred of daylight still left and the energy in the room bordered on manic but that was typical of a Sonic Youth gig. Niall made a beeline for the bar while Harry made a beeline for the restroom, hoping he could score some decent weed or at the very least charm a stranger into sharing a joint with him. Much to his disappointment the toilets were deserted.

Harry thought about turning around and drowning his sorrows with the beer Niall had picked until he smelled the faint scent of weed. When he saw a thin trail of gray smoke coming from underneath the cubicle at the far end he knew he wasn’t going anywhere. Plucking up the courage he certainly didn’t feel he walked towards the occupied stall. Right as he was about to tap his knuckles on the side  
the door flung open revealing a young man who looked like he should have been a sculpture in Harry’s freshman art class at NYU. Young Adonis finished the last of his joint then flicked it on the tiled floor stubbing it out with the toe of his scuffed white Vans.

He gazed passingly over Harry before stepping aside and motioning for Harry to join him inside the cubicle while he shut the door. “You smoke or are you for an autograph? Don’t got any paper but if you’re willing to let me sign your skin with Sharpie then I can give ya that much.” Harry couldn’t get the words out his throat, his vocal chords had chosen that moment to conveniently freeze up. Louis didn’t wait for Harry to reply, he just fished another joint from a Ziploc bag inside his jeans and cherried the tip with his lighter. After taking a long drag he passed it to Harry who took the joint and unsuccessfully held back a cough while attempting to hold the smoke for a beat longer than he usually did.

They continued to smoke until there was nothing left but a scrap of wax paper and fading embers which the young man flicked to the floor and stubbed out with his shoe again. Harry watched the embers die out with an interest only a subtle high could produce. “My name’s Louis by the way.” Louis spoke slower now that the weed had fully kicked in and Harry thought if his voice had a taste it would have tasted like molasses. “ I’m Harry. You… uh… you sound like molasses.” Louis nodded as if he’d heard this all the time. “You should hear me sing. My band was meant to play tonight. Sonic Puke stole our spot.”

Harry laughed so hard he made an embarrassing sort of whale noise. The restroom door opened then pulling both of them out of their dreamy haze. Niall called out,“Haz, they’re just about to play Schizophrenia.” Followed by another man’s voice, that sounded oddly familiar “Tommo, we gotta jet. Bouncer caught me and Li fucking in the back room again.”

 

Harry stepped out of the stall and dazedly grinned at the owner of the voice. “I knew it! You and Liam are dating. Zayn, now that you owe me ten bucks… bring me two slices of pizza and a bottle of Coke from Rocket Joe’s before class tomorrow.” Zayn nodded sheepishly, embarrassed to be caught and wishing he were anywhere else. It was one thing to indulge his boyfriend in kinky sex, it was another for his classmate and a total stranger to know about it. Louis broke the awkward atmosphere by bursting out in a fit of giggles. Once all four men were standing in the doorway Louis turned to face Harry waving goodbye and muttering, “ See you around Curly.” Harry watched Louis walk away until he lost track of him in the sea of bodies. He tried his best to enjoy the remainder of the show but all he could think of was how soft Louis’s voice was when he gave him the nickname Curly.

December 31st, 1992

 

For the rest of 1991 Harry had been frequenting every club he knew hoping to run into Louis again. All of his searches had been in vain even with Zayn dropping the hint that the band he was in with Louis was playing at a specific location. He continued this quest up until New Year’s Eve in 1992, determined to catch Louis this time. Harry’s pulse quickened with adrenaline as the bouncer examined his ID. Although he was no stranger to using fake IDs he was on a new side of the city and wasn’t sure the bouncer believed that Harry Styles from Thousand Oaks, CA was in fact 21. Just when he thought he would have to show his real ID and state that Harry Styles from New York, New York wouldn’t be 21 until February 1st he was finally given the green light to enter SubCulture, New York City’s hot spot for the underground music scene. The venue was packed to full capacity but no one seemed to be suffocating. Feels like home, Harry thought. Niall invited him for two reasons Kids of New York were playing their final show of the year tonight and a classmate from NYU had set them up with a dealer who like Niall was nowhere to be seen. The anticipation in the room was electric. Harry swore he could feel something as he continued sipping his beer. Everyone cheered as they saw the stage lights slowly become brighter until instead of this mysterious band they saw Niall Horan nephew of the manager of SubCulture and Harry’s best friend. Niall made his way towards a microphone, the one wrapped in blue electrical tape then steeled himself to deliver the bad news. “I’ve got some bad news. Stanley phoned saying their lead singer’s mom was in the hospital. Due to this unfortunate event Kids of New York will not be playing tonight.

Despite cries of protest Niall continued, “Stanley asks you respect the band’s privacy at this time and on January 9th you show up at their first gig of 1993 ready to party. Regardless of this minor setback there’s still a great show planned for you all. Everyone give a big welcome to Philly’s punk favorite The Menzingers.” As the band filtered in on stage Niall made a quick exit through the back door narrowly avoiding getting pummeled by the angry people he passed in the front row. Harry drowned the rest of his disappointment in another round and decided he might as well stay for the first song of their set.   Halfway through Harry decided that although he really liked The Menzingers, he hated a majority of their fan base. He liked a magical crowd not one filled with mischief. It was then that Niall conveniently appeared beside him. “Sorry about the no show. I should have known he was gonna flake. While I’m apologizing I hope that tonight wasn’t too much of a disappointment.”

Harry grinned and told Niall that at least he liked the backup band he would have liked them more if he had ordered another round. Haz, could you touch up my hair? It needs more blue. We could stop by Rocket Joe’s after getting what we need from the drug store, I know a slice from there always cheers you up.”

 

January 3rd, 1993

Harry enjoyed driving and listening to music in a particular way that often annoyed Niall. Currently he was sending Harry death glares as he moved to rewind the cassette tape to his favorite part of the song again. Running his hands through his newly dyed light blue hair, “Jesus Christ, Harry why don’t you just make a mix that only has “The Sound of Settling”? I’m sure other Death Cab For Cutie fans would love it.” Harry rolled his eyes but took the hint to let the next song play because after all “Transatlanticism” was Niall’s favorite DCFC album although he would never admit it.  
They were fifteen minutes late for their first class of the spring semester but once Harry parked the car he didn’t want to get out until the last song finished. “Niall, The Sound of Settling might be a feel good favorite but We Looked Like Giants speaks to my soul. I don’t want to leave this car until the song stops. Can you cover for me?” Niall laughed until his stomach hurt but managed in between breaths to say he’d send someone by the photography studio to let Professor Gordon know why her prized pupil was absent.

After the song finished he ejected the tape, placed it back in its case, and decided to linger a while longer in the silence. He’d made a habit of ditching class to get high or listen to music years ago and he didn’t see any reason why he should break it now, especially being that his gpa was in good standing. It wasn’t long before Harry drifted off to sleep that he was startled awake by a knock on the passenger side window. He blinked his eyes a few times to make sure he wasn’t still sleeping because standing beside his car with his hand on the window was Louis.

Harry leaned over to unlock the passenger side and motioned for Louis to get in. He slid into the space that Niall had occupied barely sixty minutes ago. He was so consumed with excited thoughts like Louis is sitting in my car.. whoa what Zayn said is true, Louis does smell like chocolate cereal with a faint hint of weed… and Harry you idiot say something, that his brain came to a screeching halt resulting in the first sentence he spoke to Louis being, “Holy shit, you’re tiny. I mean you’re barely taking up any space. What does that feel like?”

He could feel his face turning red as Louis processed what Harry had said to him. Then he swore he had ascended to heaven to live forever with a god he doesn’t believe in when Louis laughingly replied,” Could ask you the same thing Gigantor. You ever had to keep Jack from swiping your magic beans?” Louis didn’t let him reply, he just continued,” Actually from what I’ve heard any Jack wouldn’t mind having a go on your beanstalk so don’t answer that one Harold. I’m here to belay a message since Niall wasn’t able to buy a pigeon, a shame really I could have named him Kevin. Anyway, he won’t be needing a ride home since he’s got a Jack of his own now named Shawn. I added the Jack bit but there you have it. I’ll leave you to your beauty sleep.”

Harry couldn’t believe that Niall would throw him to the wolves like that without a hint of preparation, he was embarrassed and a little surprised that an undeserved reputation would circulate around to Louis’s ears or that he was taking the piss out of said reputation. In true Harry fashion all that came out was,” My name’s not Harold, it’s Harry. How… how do you know Niall?” Louis leaned the seat back, propped his legs on the dashboard, daintily crossed his ankles giving Harry a full view of the freshly inked triangle as he replied, “Niall gave me this neat addition after he’d asked Zayn to play carrier pigeon while you skipped class. I wasn’t sure about the placement so Niall chose my ankle muttering about how his best friend Harry always says you can tell a man by his ankles. When he was done he asked me to play carrier pigeon then told me where you were parked. He said I’d find you either still listening to Death Cab, smoking a joint, taking a nap. Since I missed the first bit I think it’s best to start with the second thing Niall mentioned before you start the napping since it’s not polite to nap with strangers. Where’s your stash Harold?” Harry tried to ignore the pain in his chest when he realized that Louis didn’t recognize him.

 

January 5th, 1993

Two days. It had been two days ago that Louis Tomlinson waltzed into Harry’s car and ruined his life. The joint they were sharing had fizzled out when Louis decided they needed a song to listen to. As he combed through the cardboard box Harry kept his cassette collection in he said, “ Old school man, I like it. Zayn’s always buying me CDs and I say thank you but I buy the tape version when he’s not looking.” Time came to a stand still when Louis picked a tape at the bottom of the box. “This is the one Harold. I can feel it.”, Louis said while loading the tape in the player.

As sweet as that moment had been it was ruined after Louis insisted he know who that guy was and what that song was called. Harry had debated about lying but he couldn’t not after seeing his reactions to his song. “Um, that was… that was me singing and the song is called “Jobless Monday”. Niall had been harassing me about making an ep or something and I just recorded one at his dad’s studio. Played the guitar and some bass myself but Niall helped do the rest of the backing instruments and vocals.” Harry shook his head as if to rid himself of the memory of Louis Tomlinson. He decided to focus on picking what his latest photography assignment should be when every little thing brought Harry back to thoughts of Louis. He needed a break and nothing helped clear his mind more than Rocket Joe’s. Harry had specifically asked Niall when they were apartment hunting all those years ago if they could get a place in closest proximity to his favorite pizza spot.

He bundled up in layers before heading outside glad it wasn’t snowing for once. Once he started walking in the chilly air he felt much better and by the time he arrived at Rocket Joe’s all thoughts of Louis had vanished. The smell of the pizzeria brought back memories of Harry and his older sister Gemma fighting over who got the last slice, memories of first kisses in the alley, and of course a slice of pizza making every hangover he’d ever had much more pleasant. After ordering his usual he was feeling restless so he browsed the wall filled with various flyers and help wanted ads. That’s when he saw a handwritten flyer seeking for a singer and guitarist. Harry wrote the phone number down deciding that once he had went back to his apartment he would call, he needed a change of pace.

 

Thirty minutes later Harry had finally started getting warmth back in his feet again. The cold from the unexpected snow flurry had seeped into his nerves. Now that he was nestled warmly under the blankets in his bedroom he decided to stop toying with the phone in his hand and the phone number resting on his foot. Taking a deep breath he dialed the number from the flyer and hoped this wasn’t a cruel joke. “Hello?” It was Louis. “Uh- hi Louis. It’s Harry. I saw the flyer hanging up at Rocket Joe’s. Are you still looking for a new member?” Louis was silent for a moment and Harry chewed on his lip waiting for the coming rejection. “Yeah. Can you some by The Garage next Friday at 6? The guys and I are holding open auditions but will have all the equipment set up so you don’t need to worry about bringing an extra mic or guitar. You will need to have a song or two prepared though and as great as “Jobless Monday” was you can’t play that one. Good luck Curly!” It was at that unfortunate moment that the power went out but Harry didn’t care because Louis called him Curly again. Louis remembered Harry from their first meeting when they were stoned in the toilets. Harry couldn’t wait until next Friday.


End file.
